~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 17, 2013

★~ Today’s Quote: An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises. ~ Mae West

★~ National Thrift Shop Day:

Thrift are a veritable gold mine of unclaimed wealth. With a little patience, an open mind, and an eye for creativity, you can find all kinds of treasures. And offer you the opportunity to add that special piece of whimsy to your closet or abode. Like a leisure suit or a picture of Elvis painted on black velvet! Celebrate today by checking out your local Thrift store!

★~ Vanilla Custard:

Thanks to this heavenly confection — made from a combination of vanilla, eggs, sugar, and milk or cream — we can fill our éclairs, trifles, and Boston cream pies! This pudding-textured substance dates back to the Middle Ages, when, much like today, custard was used as a filling for pies, tarts and the like, or enjoyed alone, spiced with seasonings from vanilla and beyond. The sweetened combination of eggs and milk can be baked in the oven or cooked on the stove top. The most popular varieties are flan crème caramel and Crème Brûlée. Make your own (just be careful your custard doesn’t curdle), or stop by the bakery and pick out your favorite vanilla custard-filled desert.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1807 –  Inventor Robert Fulton helped people travel faster by water with his steamboat, the Clermont, which completed its first round trip between New York City and Albany. The Clermont traveled on the Hudson River at the rate of five miles an hour.

♥~ 1939 –  The Wizard of Oz  premiere. The first movie to use the combination of black and white and color film starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale; Bert Lahr as both the Cowardly Lion and Zeke; Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Hunk; and Jack Haley as both the Tin Woodsman and Hickory. Originally, Buddy Ebsen was in the role of the Tin Man; but he became ill and had to leave the production before its completion.

♥~ 1968 – People Got to Be Free, the hit single by The Rascals, rocketed into the top slot on the Billboard record chart, and stayed there for five weeks

♥~ 1987 – The movie Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey opened throughout the U.S.

♥~ 1996  – An 8-year-old gorilla named Binti cradled an injured boy in her arms and left him for keepers to rescue after the boy fell 20 feet into her enclosure at the Chicago zoo.

♥~ 1998 –  The grand jury was listening to President Bill Clintons testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Clinton engaged in some semantic fine-tuning by stating: “It depends on what your meaning of ‘is’ is. If ‘is’ means ‘is and never has been’ that’s one thing – if it means ‘there is none,’ that was a completely true statement.” Clinton also parsed the meanings of “alone,” “sexual relations” and “sex.” . The moral of this story IS if you are cornered in a conversation pull out your IS sword and question the meaning of IS.

Now here is a challenge for you! Try and define the word “IS.” It “IS” is the seventh most commonly used word in the English language, yet it is almost impossible to define. Go ahead … give it a try.

♥~ 2001- A 45-year-old family doctor in London took do-it-yourself to a new level by performing a vasectomy on himself.  Dr Jonathan Heatley performed his own surgery with the help of his wife and a nurse. The doctor, who had performed some 400 vasectomies, said everything went well, but advised others not to try it at home.

♥~ 2008- Michael Phelps  took his eighth gold for the U.S. at Beijing. No person had ever won that many golds in one Olympiad before Phelps.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1786 – Davy Crockett was an American soldier, politician, and folk hero. He was first elected to the state legislature of Tennessee in 1821, and the U.S. House of Representatives in 1827, where he served three nonconsecutive terms in all. He was defeated in 1835 by a peg-legged lawyer named Andrew Huntsman, and gave up politics, saying, “Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” He left the next day, and he was killed at the Battle of the Alamo the following year. Although he was a skilled hunter and marksman, and had a reputation for telling tall tales, much of his rustic frontier image was a product of political spin. On his way to Congress, he reportedly bragged to a crowd, “I’m that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust [tree].” His legend was cemented by the Davy Crockett Almanack, a series of humorous books published from 1835 to 1856. Writers Almanac 

♥~ 1893 – Mae (Mary Jane) West playwright, actress: Mae West became famous for her quippy innuendoes and double entendres. Some of her more notable quotes include: “A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to get tied up.” And, “Between two evils, I like to pick the one I haven’t tried before.” And, “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.”

♥~ 1943 – Robert De Niro actor: Academy Award-winning actor: Raging Bull [1980], The Godfather II [1974]; Brazil, The Deer Hunter, The Untouchables, Taxi Driver, Awakenings, Cape Fear,Frankenstein, Back Draft, Search for Tomorrow, Stardust; director: Bronx Tale

♥~ 1960 – Sean Penn Academy Award-winning actor: Mystic River [2003]; Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Casualties of War, Shanghai Surprise, We’re No Angels, Carlito’s Way, Colors, Dead Man Walking

★~ Good to Know: 

PUTTING PANTS ON AN ASS: Haim is a donkey in Israel was abused before being taken in by Ramat Gan Safari, an animal sanctuary that is home to 1,600 creatures. He has been in rehabilitation for skittishness and physical wounds. But the raw skin on his legs wouldn’t heal because of flies which cause Haim to scratch and pick. Traditional bandages caused too much damage and pain because they had to be changed often.

Two caretakers, Becca Rivkin and Shira Inbar-Danin, came up with a solution. They spent four hours stitching a special pair of pants for the donkey that are held up by suspenders over his shoulders. The pants are double-layered, with a soft stretchy material on the inside, covered by a rougher baggy material that flies can’t bite through. The two women also rub cream on his legs every day.

The special pants are working swimmingly, and Haim will soon receive pants for his hind legs as well. With his skin protected, his fur is expected to grow back quickly, and then Haim the donkey will be able to trot around bare-ass once again.

WELCOME TO COLLEGE; ENJOY THE WATER SLIDE! It happens at a lot of colleges when a new class of freshmen arrive: there aren’t enough dormitory beds. Within a few weeks, the no-shows are counted and alternate housing is found, but meanwhile, many colleges put cots in the gym or commons building for the overflow. Some freshmen at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, are getting a totally different experience because the school is putting them up in an indoor water park! Capital University spokeswoman Nichole Johnson said the school thought using Fort Rapids Indoor Water Park resort was a better option than putting new students in storage areas or lounges.

GOOGLE STREET VIEW DRIVER DETAINED IN THAILAND: Sa-eab, a village in northern Thailand, is the scene of a long-running feud between locals and environmentalists and developers who want to build a dam. Google confirmed that one of their Street View drivers was caught in the crossfire. A group of about 20 people stopped the Google vehicle and made a citizen’s arrest, which included taking the driver to a temple and making him swear on a statue of Buddha that he wasn’t taking survey pictures for the dam project. The driver was eventually released, and the citizens apologized for the incident.

TURNING THE TABLES ON THE BANK:  Dmitry Agarkov of Voronezh, Russia, received a credit card offer from Tinkoff Credit Systems. He didn’t like the terms spelled out in the contract, so he changed the contract and sent it back to the bank. The altered contract called for 0% interest, an unlimited line of credit, no fees, and an agreement to pay Agarkov a hefty fine for not complying with the agreement. Plus, if the bank tried to cancel the contract, they would have to pay Agarkov six million rubles -which is over $100,000! Like most people confronted with a lot of small print, the bank didn’t bother to read the contract and accepted it.

When Agarkov went into debt and the bank tried to call in its usual fees, they ended up in court because Agarkov did not consider himself liable for fees not specified in the contract. And a judge agreed – Agarkov is only liable for the outstanding balance ($578), not the bank fees ($1,369). Next, Agarkov is suing to get the bank to pay him the penalties stated in the contract they signed. (this is from last week, but I wanted to make sure didn’t miss it)

DON’T NAME YOUR BABY MESSIAH:  Jaleesa Martin and the father of her seven-month-old son went to a child support hearing in Cocke County Chancery Court in Tennessee because they could not agree whether the child should have his mother’s or father’s last name. Instead, the judge, Lu Ann Ballew, objected to the boy’s current first name and ordered that it be changed. The child, so far named Messiah DeShawn Martin, was ordered to be named Martin DeShawn McCullough, which incorporates both parents’ surnames. The judge said that Messiah was a title reserved for Jesus Christ, and that a child with that name would have a hard time growing up in a predominately Christian area. Jaleesa Martin says she was shocked, and is appealing the decision.

#

Cole and his friends have taken the Chicago thrift shops by storm returning home with bags of clothes from places like the Gap and Lucky Brand jeans at great prices and in near perfect condition. MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS – THRIFT SHOP FEAT  rap is crude, but it made Thrifting cool (saved me bundles), so I’ll leave moral judgment to the legion of decency.

Last night, I saw the Steve Jobs movie, and in my  opinion it was a nothing mucher; the story is better in print. I didn’t find Ashton Kutcher convincing as Steve Jobs (of-course, who would you have play Steve Jobs?), but it’s hard not to admire Ashton when he hands out these kinds of messages to teens…..

Ashton Kutcher Just Told A Bunch Of Teenagers How To Be Sexy, In The Smartest Way Ever

And speaking of motivational messages……

And I loved this while I laughed….

Stephen Colbert’s ‘Best Segment Ever’ Will Make You Feel So Many Things